This book had a very unusual plot and a lot of suspense.
Emma and Julian are a well off couple spending the summer in Greece - first on the island of Corfu, then apartment sitting for a friend in Athens.
Initially, they would like children, but Emma recently miscarried and she doesn't think that children are in their future. The couple is drifting apart and the first part of the book is a character study of their thoughts, hopes and dreams, and their different ideas of their future.
One night Emma fantasizes watching Julian dance with another woman and wants to act on this fantasy.
She finds a young bartender (Lena) and facilitates the enactment of her fantasy( described in steamy graphic scenes)
Predictably, their relationship changes - not for the better- and I knew this would end badly (though not as badly as it did).
I thought that the ending was rushed and truly tragic.

A perfect beach read—I finished it in one sitting and really enjoyed it. Predictable, as others have mentioned, but the story still pulled me in.

I enjoyed the plot of this book but found it rather predictable. That being said I still had a pleasant time reading it, I think there was a tad too much filler at times that did not give any more depth to the characters. I would still recommend this to readers that are looking for an interesting and quick read.

This book was actually a great summer read. It's safely predictable while still maintaining intrigue, has superficial characters you can't get too invested in, and has a solid plot that feels familiar. It's a suspenseful read set in a way that gives the aura of romance. From a more personal preference perspective, this was not the book for me. It took me forever to get through this book, and it sent me into a reading slump. All of the characters were unlikable, and it was hard to feel any sympathy or any care at all. I think I went in looking for something that explored the human experience more, which this novel did not accomplish. Overall, it's fine. But I wouldn't read it again.

What a thrilling and provocative story. I really did not know how I would feel about this story as it was unfolding, but I found myself not able to put this down, with all the twists and turns and entanglement this couple found themselves in and how they were to deal with the consequences of their actions. This is one of my favorites I've read this year. It is not something I would have selected for myself and I am so glad random house sent this to me! I'm still thinking about it. Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Random House for sending me this ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and to the Dial Press for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

The setting in this book is beautiful - Greece is amazing, and well - it's easy to picture and pretend you're on a vacation. It just has a side of consequences, some betrayal, and well - yes.

I don't know when people are going to realize that having a threesome will legit never, ever work in a marriage. Opening up a marriage to another woman on the pretense of watching... it just, nope. So the thriller portion begins and it's fast paced and satisfying. Wasn't anything unexpected, but was a quick psychological thriller in a good setting.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for access to the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. I couldn't put this down! It was predictable yet, I still didn't see the ending somehow. You knew it would end badly, but I didn't expect how bad. The setting and the interiors lives and thoughts of the characters is what really hooked me. I didn't like any of the characters, but they were well-developed and felt realistic. Again, the internal monologues got me somehow and I appreciated the depiction of yuppie travelers trying to distract themselves and floundering in drama throughout. Great poolside or beach read!

In the first section of the story, we go back three months to find Emma and Julian in Corfu, where they are unwinding before they head to Athens to housesit for a friend. Julian is an academic who has seized the chance to be closer to the origins of his work; Emma has just walked away from a PR job she thrived in and is looking for her next move. We learn that after a mutual agreement to remain childless, Emma fell pregnant, but then miscarried. This has caused them to slowly drift apart. The hope is that this trip will bring them closer together. It is here on the island that Emma has a sexual fantasy that involves another person, which she becomes determined to make a reality. And from there the tragedy unfolds.

The novel’s exploration of female desire, privilege, and consequence feels urgently relevant to our current moment, when questions of accountability and complicity dominate public discourse. Ruins by Amy Taylor offers no easy answers, but it provides the kind of morally complex storytelling that we demand.

wow, this book was like a dumpster fire you can’t look away from (in a good way) despite having a sense of what was going to happen, i was still completely engaged in the story and needed to know what would happen next. i appreciated the ending and and getting a realistic view of how certain decisions and tragedy affect and change you.

I requested this title from NetGalley based on vibes alone and I’m so glad I didn’t know much about the plot because it really surprised me at every turn! I had the impression this was going to be a quiet story of a summer spent in Greece, but it was so much more than that.

Emma and Julian are a wealthy married couple from London who disagree about having children and who have very different ideas of what their future will look like. They are in Greece for a long summer vacation and the events of this summer break pose a threat to each of their visions of the future. The couple get to know a young Greek bartender and her impact on their summer and beyond is significant and heartbreaking.

I loved the way this novel used the city of Athens as not only a backdrop but an essential element, intentionally bringing to mind the idea that this is a modern Greek tragedy. The exploration of the themes of class privilege, power, and consequences was subtle but powerful. Part of me wished for a little more on both the background of the couple and the events beyond the summer, but at the same time I appreciated the way the story was mainly confined to the events of a single summer.

This was a slow burn atmospheric summer read that rode the line between lit-fic, thriller, and romance. It could easily have become trite and predictable based on the early events of the novel, but the second half of the story was so much more complex and poignant than I would have expected.

Thank you to NetGalley and The Dial Press for the opportunity to be an early reader of this title!

I loved that this book had me hooked from the start! This is a great summer read, especially if you’re on the beach. This was a solid psychological thriller and it gets extra points because I didn’t guess the ending.

This moody novel gripped me from the first page. Taylor deftly captures the malaise in Emma and Julian’s marriage and turns it on its head with a propulsive plot. The first part of the book contains some steamy and graphic scenes but as the story unfolds, the sexy scenes take a backseat to the unfolding psychological drama. You feel like a voyeur watching these people make one bad decision after another, but the disaster culminates in a satisfying way. This one was a surprise and I loved it. And hopefully we’ll see it on the screen—it’s currently in development as a film starring actors Vanessa Kirby and Sebastian Stan.

This was an incredible book. It did a great job showing how fast a relationship can deteriorate when another person, even one both partners agree on, is involved. It shows how complicated things can be and how overcoming them doesn’t always happen.

I must’ve misinterpreted the synopsis with this one so that’s on me. I thought this was going to be an exploration of the drama and emotions of bringing an extra person into your relationship. This just wasn’t that at all.

I couldn’t stand any of the characters enough to care what happened to them in the end. I enjoyed the first half before things turned sideways so I’d give the author another chance. I just didn’t enjoy almost anything in the second half of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

Thanks to the publisher for providing me an eARC for my honest review.

My reading experience for this book is a tale of two halves. The first half, while slow, was interesting and engaging, a nice character study set against a complicated situation. However, around the halfway point the author used probably my least favorite trope and for me my enjoyment dipped after. I would've preferred a character-focused literary plot instead of the somewhat thriller angle it took in the second half. While I'd definitely pick up another book from the author, this one wasn't my favorite. 2.75 stars, rounded up.

This book has been called a “beach read” but it certainly isn’t “fluff”. Julian and Emma are a youngish married couple who get an opportunity to house sit during a summer in Athens. Although Emma presents as a fairly bland character, she is the one who initiates some daring sexual escapades involving a young bartender named Lena. These acted on fantasies soon become complicated for the couple and their story takes a suspenseful turn.
That Julian and Emma encounter “complications” was not at all surprising. This is one of those plots that made me quickly determine “this is never going to end well”. In spite of this dour outlook, I found the book to be suspenseful and therefore, entertaining. The characters were fairly well developed and the suspense kept building with some twists and poor decisions. I found myself emotionally engaged with the characters in terms of wanting to shake some sense into them. The ending wrapped things up but probably won’t feel satisfying for some readers.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are my own.

This took me a minute to invest myself but once I was I was hooked! A marriage in turmoil is one of my favorite tropes and I felt for Emma and Julian. I could relate to their melancholy with how their lives turned out differently than what they planned. I loved not knowing Lena’s true intentions, although I was skeptical of her from the start. I wondered what I would do in a similar situation to Emma’s - I don’t think I will ever have to find out though!

I flew through this book it had me hooked from the very first page. It's tense, a little salacious, and carries a strong psychological thriller vibe. I genuinely enjoyed the ride. I wasn’t entirely sure how it would all end, and while the conclusion wasn’t what I expected, it was still satisfying. This one’s perfect for a summertime beach read.

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc!!

4.5 stars — is it worth it to be a cuck…?

ruins follows married couple julian and emma, who are visitng greece to house-sit for a friend. after emma experiences conflicting but liberating sexual emotions after watching her husband dance innocently with another woman, she approaches a young greek woman to have sex with julian.

of course, things go absolutely sideways from there…

i was instantly swept up in the drama between emma and julian, as well as the mystery surrounding lena and her brother darius.

this would make the perfect movie/mini series, and i’m excited to see that it was optioned for film, with sebastian stan starring!

i also listened to the audio and the narrator did a great job!

3.5 stars!

I have mixed feelings about this one…

This is the first Amy Taylor novel I’ve read and I don’t believe it will be the last despite my conflicted feelings.

The aspects I liked: the writing and the characters. I found Emma and Julian to be quite complex, flawed characters and reading the depth and exploration of their psyche was interesting and well written. The first act of the novel kept me hooked and I would’ve loved if the story continued to focus on an exploration of control and desire.

Things I didn’t like: the storyline and ending. The story starts out strong, however, by the second and third act, my interest wavered. The ending was rushed and unsatisfying.

I love when characters are messy with depth and an interesting plot, Ruins somewhat delivered in those aspects.